✨Born in Italy in 1245, St. Nicholas of Tolentino joined the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, where his life was marked by profound austerity, incessant prayer, and an ardent love for the souls in purgatory, for whom he offered Masses, fasts, and penances. Famous for his miracles and for victoriously resisting severe demonic temptations, he became an eloquent preacher and a compassionate confessor, dedicating his life to alleviating the suffering of both the living and the dead, embodying the ideal of renouncing the world to obtain the heavenly treasure.
🕯️ Introit (Ps 91:13-14 | ibid., 2)Justus ut palma florébit... The just man shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus: planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. Ps. It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to Thy name, O Most High.
📜 Epistle (I Cor 4:9-14)
A reading from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians. Brethren: We are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honourable, but we are without honour. Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode. And we labour, working with our own hands: we are reviled, and we bless; we are persecuted, and we suffer it; we are blasphemed, and we entreat; we are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all, even until now. I write not these things to confound you; but I admonish you as my dearest children in Christ Jesus our Lord.
✝️ Gospel (Lk 12:32-34)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom. Sell what you possess and give alms. Make to yourselves bags which grow not old, a treasure in heaven which faileth not: where no thief approacheth, nor moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
🤔 Reflections
💡The life of St. Nicholas of Tolentino is a living exegesis of this day's liturgical texts. He embodied the figure of the apostle described by St. Paul: a "fool for Christ's sake," who embraced weakness, contempt, and privations ("hunger and thirst") as a path to holiness. This radical renunciation is only possible in the light of the Gospel, where Christ assures the "little flock" that there is nothing to fear, for the reward is the Kingdom itself. The command to "sell what you possess" and seek an "unfailing treasure in heaven" was the map that guided the life of St. Nicholas and of all confessors who, by emptying their hands of earthly goods, allowed their hearts to be fixed entirely on God. The heart inevitably follows the treasure; by choosing the eternal treasure, the saint lifted his heart to heavenly realities. For if your possessions are on earth, your heart grovels on the earth; but if they are in heaven, your heart is lifted up to heaven (St. Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, 122).
📖The Gospel of Luke presents the counsel to seek heavenly treasure with a unique and pastoral introduction: "Fear not, little flock," lending a tone of tenderness and encouragement absent in the parallels. While Matthew (6:19-21), in the Sermon on the Mount, presents the precept in a more direct and doctrinal manner, Luke places it in a context of filial trust in the Father. Furthermore, Luke's exhortation is more explicit and radical: "Sell what you possess and give alms," whereas Matthew focuses on the instruction to "not store up for yourselves treasures on earth." Mark (10:21), in turn, narrates the practical application of this principle in the dialogue with the rich young man, where selling one's possessions is presented as a specific invitation to perfection.
✒️St. Paul deepens the theology of "treasure in heaven" by identifying this treasure with Christ Himself. In Philippians (3:8), he states that he considered all earthly things as "loss" and "rubbish" in order to "gain Christ," who is the supreme treasure. The orientation of the heart, mentioned by Luke, is echoed in Colossians (3:1-2), where Paul exhorts us to "seek the things that are above" and to "set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth." This Pauline perspective transforms the act of material detachment from a simple renunciation into an active and passionate quest for union with the person of Christ, the only good that does not corrupt and that fully satisfies the heart.
🏛️The monastic rules and constitutions of religious orders, such as the Augustinians to which St. Nicholas belonged, formalize the evangelical precept of detachment. The Rule of St. Benedict, for example, establishes that "all things shall be common to all" so that no one may call anything his own, thus eradicating the vice of private property. The pontifical documents that approved the mendicant orders praise the vow of poverty as an apostolic imitation and an eschatological witness to the Kingdom of Heaven. Encyclicals such as Rerum Novarum clarify that, for the laity, the possession of goods entails a grave responsibility to use them as "stewards of God's providence," allocating what is superfluous to charity, thereby fulfilling the precept to "give alms" without necessarily selling all possessions.
🧐 See English articles here.